So I thought I would give a little review of the game for feedback.

Overview

While the game feels like a late Alpha - early Beta; Baldur's Gate 3 will be a solid hit. I have no problems predicting that. There is enough to the game that tells me they have captured the essence of a D&D world in it's richness and scope of story telling. There are lots of problems in the current state but that is to be expected at this stage of development. Now comes the push to get this beast out the door!

The Positives

While some criticize the character creation I've found it actually super easy to create a visually appealing elf that made me feel like I had something akin to my "Pen and Paper" wizard I currently play. By allowing me to unlock the options rather than artificially constraining me I felt I was quickly able to produce a visually appealing character.

The early add of the dream character was super cool. I'm interested in where the story goes with the dream character. It's a rich add. I know that my dream character won't become real (at least that's what the story seems to indicate) but boy do I wish they were. Brilliant story telling there.

The graphics are glorious. By far the best rendition of D&D ever. I remember how happy the original NWN made me graphically but this is an order of magnitude over that satisfaction.

The rule implementation flows nicely. It's not clunky. I would put the lack of perks in the negative but I'm assuming that is a function of current game state and more feats will be added over time (spell sniper, elemental adapt, etc.). It's just fun to enter combat and feel like it's actual D&D rules.

The Negatives

Combat still feels out of balance. The encounters don't scale well over time yet. Early on the game plays well and combat is appropriate. The battles can be tough but doable. After the crash the battle with the intellect devourers in the ship was tough but completely doable after I had Shadowheart even as a weak wizard.

Later in the game I found the Phase Spider Queen out of place (yes I killed her but she out scaled her brood ridiculously ... us die hards will best her but regular players will get annoyed when she appears out of nowhere). I think the worst was having beaten the pair of Minotaur's in the underdark (hard enough as a level 4 party) but then the boullete destroyed my party in it's initial rush by surprise attack before I could even react. That scaled way to fast compared to the goblin leaders who I could toast no problem. My hope is this scaling is unintended and is not representative of the game in future state. So combat scaling/balancing needs allot of work.

I find that it would be nice to have better single party member control. Heading into obvious combat situations I would love to be able to position my party better rather than having to deal without entering combat mode prior to combat. It feels clunky.

Please fix the ease at which you can drag spells off of the bottom bar. I can't believe how many times I had to reload my game because my character moved when I clicked instead of casting a spell and I realize .... oh I drug my spell off the bar AGAIN. lol

My biggest negative comment has to do with post druid celebration. During the celebration each of the companions partake in the party and I found myself needing to comment on how they behaved (one is in desperate need of fixing):

  • Astarion: Behavior was somewhat predictable and appropriate. He's a vampire spawn who is willing partake in pleasures of the flesh quickly and easily.
  • Shadowheart: I find it interesting that in gaming we've made heterosexual interactions the most difficult, she showed no romantic interest at all. It fits her character but it's an interesting choice.
  • Wyll: Wyll turned out to be a former spoiled brat in his words and I was surprised he was so quick to invite you to join him for the evening. I found him to be the most respectful easy romance option.
  • Lae'zel: Not much to say here ... lol she's not interested.
  • Gale: Now here is where I have a serious problem. Gale behaved in a way that was completely disgusting IMHO. It's not that he approaches you as if he was a gay male in a bad 70's film approaching the MC at a dirty truck stop. What was really offensive is that if you chose to reject such an advance the game actually punishes you. In an era where we are supposed to be respectful of people saying yes or no actually coding a game that punishes the player for saying no ... well I do NOT think that is acceptable. A negative reaction from a character I must have in my party who approaches me in an undesired fashion ... that makes me want to remove him from the party straight up. It's also completely out of character. This is the biggest complaint of the game for me at this time.



So keep rolling on the game it's good work overall! I look forward to where you take it.

Last edited by digitalares; 13/10/20 02:32 AM.